Similarities Between Waiting For Dan And A Letter Home

In the 1960s’ and 1970s’, the U.S. was brewing with protests about equal rights between whites and African Americans. This period of time is called The Civil Rights Movement. Around the same time, there were also protests about having American soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. Some people supported the U.S. sending troops to Vietnam to help in the war, and others opposed this action. The story called Waiting for Dan and a letter which is called A Letter Home are texts written about some of the events that took place during this time in history. Although these pieces of text are about different protests, the protestors in them have similarities that are significant to the overall happenings of this time period. Although the protesters from both the story and the letter have similarities between them, they also have differences that distinguish their method of handling their
situations. Although the protesters from these events were taking a stand for different reasons, they both had stood up for what they believed was right. In Waiting for Dan, the narrator states Dan, her husband, is “firm in his devotion to the cause and his choice to stand up for what is right.” (page 2, paragraph 2). This line from the story proves that Dan, who was a protester and supported equal rights for African Americans, felt that what he was doing was right, and that he would do the best that he could to bring more attention to this problem so it could be solved. In A Letter Home, the writer, a student from Kent State University, writes a letter to her parents explaining what had happened at the school from her perspective. In a quote from the letter the student said that she and other students were “staying together so we can try to understand what happened before we leave campus and go home.” She also said in her last paragraph that she hoped her parents would understand her need “to stand by my friends and be with them in this time of turmoil.” Although she had just witnessed the protests and had not been a part of it, this quote from the text shows that she is doing what she feels is best by choosing to stay with her peers so they can reflect on what happened and work through the protests together. Another similarity between the protestors in each story is that they began their protests with peaceful methods, and ended on violent grounds. In Waiting for Dan, the narrator explains the peaceful procedure of keeping blacks and whites separate yet treating them equally, and how it had become “...two separate explosions of violence.” The Freedom Ride was designed to keep black people and white people separate without treating them unequally but by the end of the trip individuals who were involved in the Freedom Rides had resorted to violence. This can be proved by the statement “The first Freedom Ride went peacefully enough until the two buses reached Alabama in two separate explosions of violence.” In A Letter Home, the student states that a “demonstration had been scheduled for noon.” This line shows that these protests were planned and were taken seriously by the students. They were not planning on protesting against American soldiers fighting in Vietnam by being violent. However, when National Guardsmen showed up at the scene and began giving orders for the crowd to scatter, the demonstrators and other protesters reacted to the officers by throwing stones and yelling at them. In response, the officers began shooting into the crowd. The quote I mentioned before and these following events show that the demonstrations planned by the students were meant to be peaceful methods of protest, but it had turned into a violent scene, similar to how the people involved in the Freedom Rides intended on a peaceful protest, but it had turned into a brutal event. Although there are more similarities between the protesters, there are also differences between them.
A difference between the protestors from Kent State University and the protestors in the Freedom Rides was that they were objecting against different events. The protesters involved in the Freedom Rides were supporting civil rights, but the protesters mentioned in A Letter Home were against the presence of American soldiers in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. We know that Dan from Waiting for Dan was a protester for civil rights because in the story, it states that “...Dan decided to join the ever-growing numbers of people on the Freedom Ride.” We also know that the students from Kent State University were protesting against American soldiers fighting in Vietnam because in the letter, the student says “ We should not be in Vietnam, but burning buildings and and throwing rocks at the police will not help.” This piece of text shows that the students at Kent State University had done those things because most of them believed that American soldiers should not be fighting in the Vietnam
War. A second difference between the protestors from the two events was the way the public responded to their actions. In Waiting for Dan, it is said that Dan was “sitting in a prison in Mississippi.” In A Letter Home, it is said that the governor reacted to the students’ protests by sending the “Ohio National Guard to keep peace on the campus.” In Waiting for Dan, protesters who were involved in the Freedom Ride were imprisoned for their actions. However, according to A Letter Home, the governor responded to the students’ protests by sending National Guardsmen to the school. The writer of A Letter Home states in the third paragraph of the first page that “only a small group of people caused the outbreaks of violence.” It was stated that a small number of people had committed the destructive protests, however, it was not said that anyone was arrested. This is comparable to the protesters from Waiting for Dan because although there were many people involved in the Freedom Rides, there was no hesitation to make any arrests. We know that many people were involved in the Freedom Rides because the narrator described them as “ever-growing” (page 1, paragraph 7). So, although protesters from both events had become violent, only protesters from the Freedom Rides were arrested. Overall, there were multiple similarities and differences between the protesters from Waiting for Dan and A Letter Home. Two of the similarities between the protesters from both the story and the letter are their firm beliefs in what they were standing up for, and the way they started and ended their protests. The protesters from both texts were standing up and speaking out for what they believed was right, and even though their protests started peacefully, they concluded aggressively. Two differences between the protesters from Waiting for Dan and A Letter Home are that they protested against two different issues that were growing in the United States, and the way the public reacted to their protests. In Waiting for Dan, protesters were supporting civil rights, but in A Letter Home, protesters were objecting against American soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War. Also, some protesters involved in the Freedom Rides were arrested, but protesters involved in the violent events at Kent State University were not arrested. Although these two events had differences, their similarities are what progressed the Civil Rights Movement, and the disagreements about whether or not American soldiers should be fighting in the Vietnam War. These protests changed the United States, and created the country that our generation now sees and lives in.